Where to Stay in Faubourg Saint-Honoré

What staying in Faubourg Saint-Honoré is like

Faubourg Saint-Honoré is the part of the 8th arrondissement around rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, a street lined with luxury fashion houses. The Élysée Palace, the official residence of the French president, fronts onto the same street. At the eastern end, the Madeleine church stands on place de la Madeleine, where the Paris food house Fauchon has its shops. At the southern edge is Place de la Concorde, beside the Tuileries garden.

The hotels compared here are all rated five stars. Three of them, Le Bristol Paris, La Réserve Paris and the Hôtel de Crillon, also hold the Palace distinction, a rating above five stars awarded by Atout France, the French tourism agency. Several occupy older houses. Maison Delano Paris and Marquis Faubourg Saint-Honoré are in eighteenth-century mansions on rue d'Anjou, and Hôtel Alfred Sommier is in a former family mansion near the Madeleine.

From the Madeleine end, the Palais Garnier and the department stores of boulevard Haussmann are a short walk. From the western end, Le Bristol says the Champs-Élysées are five minutes away on foot.

Who it suits, and who should look elsewhere

The area suits shoppers, business travelers and fashion-week visitors who want a five-star hotel within walking distance of rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, the Madeleine and Place de la Concorde. It also works for families who book a larger room. Le Bristol has a children's play area, babysitting and connecting rooms, Hôtel Bowmann lists a 52 m² family room, and Hôtel Splendide Royal has a two-bedroom family suite of about 105 m².

Every hotel compared here is five-star. The area also has four-star hotels, such as Hôtel Madeleine Plaza on place de la Madeleine. If you plan to spend most days on the Left Bank, in the Marais or in Montmartre, a hotel in one of those areas will save Métro time.

Getting around: Métro, airports and trains

Six Métro stations and one RER station serve the area. These distances are the ones the hotels publish.

• Madeleine (lines 8, 12 and 14): on place de la Madeleine, beside Fauchon L'Hôtel Paris.
• Concorde (lines 1, 8 and 12): about 250 meters from Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg.
• Miromesnil (lines 9 and 13): about 250 meters from Le Bristol and 350 meters from Hôtel Splendide Royal.
• Champs-Élysées–Clemenceau (lines 1 and 13): within about 300 meters of La Réserve.
• Saint-Philippe-du-Roule (line 9) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (lines 1 and 9): about 500 and 650 meters from Hôtel Splendide Royal.
• Auber (RER A): about 750 meters from Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg.

Line 14 is the most useful line for arriving and leaving. From Madeleine it runs one stop north to Gare Saint-Lazare, and south through Châtelet and Gare de Lyon. Since 24 June 2024 it has continued to Orly airport, so a guest near the Madeleine can reach Orly without changing trains.

For Charles de Gaulle airport, take line 14 to Châtelet–Les Halles and change to RER B, which runs to the airport. RER B also stops at Gare du Nord, where Eurostar trains leave for London.

La Réserve, Le Bristol and Hôtel Splendide Royal are closer to Miromesnil and Champs-Élysées–Clemenceau than to Madeleine. From either station, line 13 runs to Saint-Lazare, where you can change to line 14.

The tradeoffs

Street noise depends on the address and the side of the building. Hyatt Paris Madeleine offers courtyard rooms as well as rooms that look onto boulevard Malesherbes or toward the Saint-Augustin church. Fauchon L'Hôtel, on place de la Madeleine, has triple-glazed soundproof windows. Le Bristol's entry-level Superior rooms face its courtyard.

Check the restaurant days before you plan dinner in the hotel. Tosca at Hôtel Splendide Royal closes on Sundays and Mondays, Il Giardino at Les Jardins du Faubourg serves no dinner on Sunday, and Le Gabriel at La Réserve opens Monday to Friday. Five of the hotels, including Le Bristol and Fauchon L'Hôtel, list check-in from 3 pm and check-out by noon. Hyatt Paris Madeleine lists 4 pm and 11 am.

Choosing a hotel here

Start with the end of the area you will use most. Fauchon L'Hôtel, Hôtel Alfred Sommier and Hyatt Paris Madeleine are near the Madeleine, the end closest to line 14 and the department stores. Maison Delano Paris and Marquis Faubourg Saint-Honoré are a few doors apart on rue d'Anjou, and Les Jardins du Faubourg is on rue d'Aguesseau, a short side street. Le Bristol and Hôtel Splendide Royal are near the Élysée Palace, and La Réserve is on avenue Gabriel, a short walk from the Champs-Élysées. Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg and the Hôtel de Crillon are by Place de la Concorde.

• A pool: Hôtel Bowmann, Le Bristol, La Réserve, Les Jardins du Faubourg and the Hôtel de Crillon, whose pool is in its Sense spa.
• Fewer than 20 rooms: Hôtel Splendide Royal (12 suites, no spa or gym) and Marquis Faubourg Saint-Honoré (15 suites, a guest gym open 24 hours).
• A three-Michelin-star restaurant: Epicure at Le Bristol and Le Gabriel at La Réserve, according to the hotels.
• A butler for every room: La Réserve, which has 40 rooms and suites.
• A garden: Le Bristol, Hôtel Alfred Sommier and Les Jardins du Faubourg.
• Food in the room: Fauchon L'Hôtel puts a minibar of complimentary Fauchon treats, replenished daily, in every room.

Le Bristol, with 188 rooms, and Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg, with 148, are the larger hotels here. The Sofitel lends electric bikes to guests free of charge but lists no pool. Hôtel Bowmann, on boulevard Haussmann at the northern edge, has 53 rooms and suites and a garden terrace.

History within a few streets

The Hôtel de Crillon occupies a colonnaded building on Place de la Concorde designed by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel and finished in 1758. It opened as a hotel in 1909, and in 1919 the American delegation to the Paris Peace Conference made it its headquarters. In Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises (1926), the narrator, Jake Barnes, writes letters in the hotel and drinks a Jack Rose in its bar. The Crillon closed in 2013 for a four-year restoration and reopened in 2017, run by Rosewood.

Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg includes the former Hôtel Vouillemont, which Marcel Proust named in Swann's Way (1913). Maxim's, the restaurant on rue Royale that opened in 1893, still serves dinner in its Art Nouveau dining room. Pablo Picasso lived at 23 rue La Boétie from 1918, Colette opened a beauty shop at 6 rue de Miromesnil in 1932, and the American Library in Paris was at 10 rue de l'Élysée from 1920 to 1936.